Wednesday, April 14, 2010

A Letter to My Little Henry (Finally)

Dearest Henry,

I bought you a beautiful book of lined paper months ago. I had the greatest of intentions to write you letters about our pregnancy together, your birth, about how much Daddy and I love you, and about your first year of life... just as I had done for Charlie.

But, my precious baby boy... you are my second child. And that means I love you more than anything in this world (My god!! How much I love you!) and will give to you all that I have to give... but, it's a hard fact of life that you have fallen prey to "Second Child Syndrome". Being the second child myself, I'm all too familiar. Mom and Dad, who once had hours upon hours of time to devote all their attention to their first born, must now figure out how to find time for two kiddos. Second Child Syndrome in no way means that you're loved less because you came second. It just means that there may not be as much evidence of how much you are loved. I've accepted that there just aren't as many baby pictures of me as there are of my big brother and that my baby book stops at my fifth month whereas my brother's goes through the toddler stage. And for you, my sweet Henry, the second child syndrome means that while Charlie got a bound book with hand written love letters from Mom... you're getting a blog.

So here goes...

You're amazing!!! You're absolutely, unbelievably, 100% amazing! I adore every single inch of you. I am so, so, so in love with you. And the love runs deep. Very, very deep. I love that you're here. I love that you're mine. And I thank God every day that I get to spend my life with you.

You are ten months old now. But here's a little bit of backstory of how you came to be:

I found out about you on March 23, 2009. I took a pregnancy test right after Daddy left for work early that Monday morning, suspecting, but not really convinced, you might be there. Oh... but you were! That line turned blue so fast! I was so excited that I ran across the street right away to tell my best friend!

You spent the next nine months growing in my belly. And man, did you grow. My belly was so big that strangers would stop me to ask how soon I was due! By the end, you were so packed in there that we were both so uncomfortable! Your little tushy and tucked-up legs were pressed into my right rib cage. Man, did we battle over possession of that rib cage!! Every time you'd kick, I'd have to push your little legs back down.

You were born on Tuesday November 17, 2009 at 10:08pm. We went in for a Dr's appt that morning and were sent over to the hospital at 11:00am to get things started. Eleven hours later (some very painful hours), you made your great entrance into the world.

Dr. Sherman put you right on my chest. You were blue and screaming. Daddy cut the umbilical cord and they took you over to get cleaned up.

I couldn't see you from where I was, but your grandma, who we call Blah, was with you and she said that the second they put you down in the bassinet to get cleaned up, you tucked your legs in close to your body. Just like how you were all those months in my belly. Except this was the first time you did it on your own, without my ribs to stand in your way. (I bet that was pretty nice!) You weighed 6lbs. 13oz. and measured 20" long!

After the nurses cleaned you up, they brought you to me. I couldn't stop looking at you. You had these long, light eyelashes that stuck straight out - just like mine do. I couldn't believe it. When your big brother was born, every single trait he had came from Daddy. But I knew that you were going to look like me because of those eyelashes. And I was so right.

The next day, you met your big brother for the first time. And we were finally all together - the four of us. Our family.